The environmentally friendly guide to car cleaning

Blog

21st June 2018

So, we all love to have a clean car, right? However, I have a sneaky suspicion many reading this will be guilty of abusing their lovely motor we all once cared so dearly for 🙂. And for many us, keeping a clean ‘green’ eco friendly conscious is important (maybe that’s why we don’t wash our cars so often) – so here’s a quick word on how you can get your car back to looking like it did the day you bought it whilst staying clean and green.

Before I dive into my top tips for an unbelievable ‘dropless’ showroom shine… a quick word on the eco effects of the old school way:

Have you ever thought ‘how much water is being wasted cleaning my car’? Or, ‘I wonder what happens to all of the chemical spray that is hosed off into the drain’? Many people don’t, but here’s some quick math to blow you away…

On average over 160 litres of water is wasted on a traditional car wash. If each car in London was washed just once in 2018, that would be over 429m litres of water wasted. I’m sure many people in Ghana, Kenya or Haiti would find our methods a little strange…. our good friends at WATERisLIFE will be happy to tell you more on how far that water would stretch and lives it would save.

There is also now over 20,000 unregulated Hand Car Washes across the UK causing huge damage to the UKs water systems. Toxic chemicals and oils are being drained off without any proper disposal, polluting water reserves across the country.

However, its not all doom and gloom! Waterless, eco-friendly solutions have been developed for this exact reason, most of which can be picked up on amazon or at any local car accessory store. For those of you that enjoy (and have the time to) get out there and clean your car, give these a try and see for yourself how these solutions not only make car cleaning easier, but provide a much more effective finish.

Here’s our short guide and top tips to an effective waterless car clean:

a. Get an even spray across each panel and leave the solution to work for 30seconds. This gives it time to liquify the dirt and lift from the panel surface

b. Make sure you work the car panel by panel to avoid missing sections and work from top to bottom. The last thing you want is drips ruining your perfect work

3. Remove the dirt with a microfibre towel

a. Fold the cloth and roll your hand as you remove the dirt from the panel. This helps avoid the dirt particles leaving any marks

b. Work in straight lines rather than circles as this can cause swirl marks (Check out our videos to see our guys in action)

c. Reapply spray to any areas where further application is needed and repeat

4. Buff the surface with a clean microfibre towel

a. Applying light pressure, buff the surface with the microfibre towel to remove any additional solution and activate the canaruba wax. This will give your car deep mirror-gloss premium waxed finish, layer of protection to repel water and prevent build-up of dirt

5. Apply alloy cleaner to the alloys and any dirt on the tyres

a. Following the same process, remove and dirt and break dust using a macrofibre towel and finish with a clean towel for the best finish.

6. Apply tyre dressing

a. Add a light spray of the tyre dressing to the rubber and remove any that may have splashed onto the alloy – This will look white at first but allow to dry into the tyre wall.

b. TIP: Spray the tyre dressing directly onto a towel and apply to any rubber or plastic trim to make sure you get the best matt finish

7. You should now have a fully clean, waxed, protected, sexy looking showroom style car 🙂. And you can give yourself a pat on the back for going green and helping the environment.

If you have any questions about how to get the best from your car clean, or want to discuss car cleaning techniques, please reach out – details below.